Alert Police Blotter: Smile…You’re On Candid Camera!

Thursday, 6 Jun 2013, 8:31:00 AM

Tim Broughton

A 37-year-old Santa Monica resident was booked for vandalism and issued a citation before being released on Saturday, May 25 after breaking a neighbor’s surveillance camera.

At 3:19 pm officers of the Santa Monica Police Department went to the 2400 block of Fourth Street in order to investigate a case of vandalism.

When they arrived the officers spoke with the victim who told them that he had an ongoing dispute with a neighbor.

He added that the neighbor possessed an aggressive dog, and that this animal had harassed other residents of the apartment complex.

He said the dog was allowed to roam the complex at will and unleashed, instilling fear into the hearts of the other residents.

The victim continued to tell the officers that the complex management had allowed him to mount a surveillance camera next to his front door, and that the camera pointed directly towards the offending neighbor’s front door.

He told the officers that when he had left his residence earlier that day the camera was in perfect working order, however upon his return it was broken and had been covered with a towel.

The victim stated he had then watched the surveillance video and it had recorded the neighbor leave her apartment, cover the camera with the towel, and then break the camera.

The neighbor was contacted and arrested according to citizen’s arrest protocol.

This Santa Monica resident was booked for vandalism and issued a citation before being released.

Editor’s Note: These reports are part of a regular police coverage series entitled “Alert Police Blotter” (APB), which injects some minor editorial into certain police activities in Santa Monica. Not all of the Mirror’s coverage of incidents involving police are portrayed in this manner. More serious crimes and police-related activities are regularly reported without editorial in the pages of the Santa Monica Mirror and its website,smmirror.com.